General Football debate and news thread 26/27

Spursex

Spursex

Alert Team

Premier League fails to close Chelsea PSR loophole​

West London club ‘profited’ from selling hotels and their own women’s team to sister company to ensure they complied with financial rules

Martyn Ziegler
, Chief Sports Reporter
Wednesday June 04 2025, 4.30pm, The Times
Chelsea Football Club
Premier League
Football

Chelsea Women were valued at £200m when sold to a sister company of the club
SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL



The Premier League has failed in its bid to prevent clubs selling assets to sister companies in order to comply with its Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
A proposal to close the loophole that has allowed Chelsea to register a “profit” from selling hotels, and their own women’s team, to a sister company did not even go to a vote at the Premier League’s annual meeting, which took place near Harrogate. The proposal came after requests from some clubs.
Sources said it became clear even on Tuesday that there was not enough support in the room for the proposal and so it was not put to a vote on Wednesday. It would have needed 14 of the 20 clubs to vote in favour to allow the rule change to be passed.
Some clubs felt that to change the rules now would be “closing the stable door after the horse had bolted”, one club executive told The Times, and that as Chelsea had benefited from the loophole, others should be allowed to do the same.
There was also concern that it would prevent clubs earning revenues from selling assets such as property to unrelated parties.
PSR will remain in place next season without significant changes. It had originally been envisaged that the rules would be replaced with a new cost control system but the legal challenge by Manchester City against Associated Party Transaction rules — which will be heard by an arbitration tribunal in October — led clubs to decide in February to keep PSR for at least another year.
It means limits will remain on the amount of money clubs can lose. The maximum loss is £105million over three seasons, but spending on infrastructure, youth and women’s football is exempted.
Manchester United, Newcastle United and Aston Villa are among the clubs that have cited PSR as a reason for being constrained in the transfer market.
Chelsea sold their all-conquering women’s team to a sister company for a stated £200million — though the value of the deal has yet to be approved by the Premier League — and two hotels for £70.5million. The deals have helped the club comply with PSR over the past two seasons.
Uefa does not accept the sale of assets to sister companies as income and Chelsea is in talks with the European governing body over a financial settlement for breaching its financial rules, which limit losses a club can make, and the amount it can spend on players’ wages, transfers and agents fees in relation to its revenue.
 

Players need eight weeks without matches every summer, says union​

Chelsea and Manchester City likely to fall well short of recommendation in Fifpro-commissioned report — four weeks off, four weeks of conditioning — if they do well at Club World Cup


https://www.thetimes.com/topic/football

Chelsea and City players will barely get any time off this summer if they go deep at the Club World Cup
summer to avoid burnout — plus another four weeks of pre-season training before starting the new campaign, a new report says.
The recommendations are included in a report commissioned by the international players’ union, Fifpro, with the demands of the international calendar brought by Fifa’s Club World Cup and Uefa’s expanded European competitions meaning players are facing ever-greater physical and mental strain.
There are only five weeks between the end of the Club World Cup on July 13 and the start of the new Premier League season on August 16, which could mean that Manchester City and Chelsea players get three weeks less off than the minimum time for rest and retraining recommended by a group of 70 medical and performance experts in the Delphi Study.
There should also be a one-week mid-season break, according to the study, but that has been scrapped in English football due to the demands of the calendar.
Dr Vincent Gouttebarge, the medical director of Fifpro, said: “This study presents safety standards based on the considered and independent opinions of medical and performance experts working in professional football who understand the mental and physical strain placed on players.
“If we can all agree that health comes first, then we should take steps to implement these safeguards.”
Despite the intense demands of the schedule, Fifa has ignored pressure from players and unions and will use stoppage-time rules at the Club World Cup that are likely to make some games last more than 100 minutes.
Pierluigi Collina, the Fifa referees’ chief, said officials have been told to compensate for any time lost to injuries, goal celebrations, penalties or red cards. The same rules were in place at the 2022 World Cup, when England’s game against Iran lasted 117 minutes.
Harry Kane of England appears distraught during a soccer match.

Harry Kane felt the strain as England’s game against Iran at the 2022 World Cup stretched to 117 minutes
RICHARD PELHAM
Collina also revealed that assistant referees have been told to be “braver” in raising their flag for obvious offsides — and that a new semi-automated offside system will alert them when a player is 10cm or more offside.
Players unions are already concerned about the demands on individuals of a big new summer tournament and Uefa took a more relaxed approach for Euro 2024. The former Manchester City midfielder, Kevin de Bruyne, has been among those who criticised the longer matches.
Collina said match officials had been told to encourage games to restart quicker, which should reduce the amount of stoppage time, but that the strict approach would still be applied.
“This is the Laws of the Game, that there are losses of time that should be compensated at the end of the match,” Collina said. “They are simply compensating for time when the ball was off. The objective is to make the game more enjoyable and entertaining. There is nothing entertaining with the ball not being on the field of play. So, certainly, the time loss will be compensated.
“By being proactive to restart play quicker at throw-ins, goal kicks, corners and free kicks, the time added would be reduced, probably.”
Soccer CWC Refcam

Fifa referees’ chief Collina says officials have been told to compensate for time lost to injuries, goal celebrations, penalties or red cards
MARTIN MEISSNER/AP
The 2022 World Cup had an average stoppage time of a little more than 11min 30sec, more than double the previous tournament in Russia in 2018. Premier League matches were nearly two minutes shorter last season than the previous year after instructions to referees to be less strict on stoppage time, which was down from 11min 35sec to 9min 53sec for matches played between August and February.
Collina also revealed that match officials should raise their flag if a player is 10cm or more offside rather than leave it to the VAR. It follows the Nottingham Forest striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, being injured when play was allowed to continue despite Anthony Elanga being clearly offside in the build-up for a move against Leicester City. Awoniyi collided with a goalpost as he tried to reach Elanga’s cross and had surgery on a serious abdominal rupture.
At the Club World Cup, a new semi-automated offside system will send a message to the assistant referee when a player is 10cm or more offside so they can raise their flag immediately. “We have encouraged our referees to be a bit braver with offside,” Collina said.
Referees at the tournament will wear body cameras for the first time as part of a trial. The footage will be available to broadcasters to use for goal replays and will also be available to VARs if required.
 

Top 10 Football Sporting Directors in the World (2025)​


Sporting directors are crucial to the modern football club, shaping recruitment, philosophy, and long-term success. Multiple recent rankings and expert analyses consistently highlight the following names as the leading figures in this role for 2025:


RankNameCurrent/Most Recent ClubNotable Achievements
1Luís CamposParis Saint-GermainTalent identification at Monaco, Lille, PSG; Ligue 1 titles
.
2Txiki BegiristainManchester CityArchitect of Man City’s dominance; key signings; brought Guardiola
.
3Andrea BertaAtlético MadridBuilt Atlético into consistent La Liga/European force
.
4Paul MitchellNewcastle UnitedKnown for successful stints at RB Leipzig, Monaco, and now Newcastle
.
5Christoph FreundBayern MunichKey in Red Bull Salzburg’s talent pipeline; now at Bayern
.
6Richard HughesLiverpoolSucceeded Michael Edwards, known for smart recruitment
.
7Edú GasparSet to join Nottingham ForestFormer Arsenal technical director, recognized for recruitment
.
8Michael ZorcBorussia Dortmund (retired)Developed stars, won Bundesliga, UCL finalist
.
9Roberto OlabeReal SociedadBuilt Real Sociedad’s competitive squad
.
10Johan LangeTottenhamFormer Aston Villa, now at Spurs, known for data-driven approach
.
 
La Liga is not alone among Europe's top five leagues in restricting the squad numbers players can choose from.
The Bundesliga requires first-team players to wear numbers from 1-40. If a team uses more than 40 players in a season, squad numbers should be assigned consecutively from that point onwards.
The Premier League, Ligue 1, and Serie A don't have restrictions beyond allowing players to choose from 1-99.
Before 2022, Ligue 1 did also have a restriction - mandating that players use numbers 1-30.
Serie A has also relaxed more stringent rules, though one it has maintained is a ban on the number 88, which is sometimes used in Italy to demonstrate support for fascism.
High squad numbers are much more common in Serie A than the other top five European leagues - in the 2024-25 season, every club aside from Juventus had at least one first-team player using number 80 or higher, and eight clubs had a player wearing number 99.
Napoli midfielder Frank Anguissa contests a header with Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie during a Serie A match at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Cameroon midfielder Frank Anguissa, formerly of Fulham, now wears the number 99 for Serie A champions Napoli

What about other unusual shirt numbers?​

Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano famously wore a '1+8' shirt when playing for Inter Milan after Brazil's Ronaldo joined the club in 1997.
When Brazilian goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni - a prolific scorer of free-kicks and penalties - broke the appearance record at Sao Paulo in 2005, he wore a commemorative shirt bearing the number 618 to mark his tally in an official match against Atletico Mineiro.
In 2010, an administrative quirk meant Australia midfielder Tommy Oar became the first player to wear a three-digit number in an official international fixture. The former Utrecht player made his international debut wearing number 121.
Moroccan striker Hicham Zerouali was allowed to wear the number 0 at Aberdeen in 2000 after fans nicknamed him 'Zero' - but the number was banned for the following season.
Though the number one shirt is traditionally worn by goalkeepers, some outfield players have worn it, including the Netherlands' Ruud Geels at the 1974 World Cup, Ossie Ardiles for Argentina at the 1982 edition, and former Juventus and Barcelona midfielder Edgar Davids during his 15-month spell as player-manager of Barnet.
Ivan Zamorano holding up his famous number 1+8 shirt
 
Two live games on free to air tonight Weds 18th, both 20.00pm kick off.

Channel 4 - England v Germany UEFA U21 championships

Channel 5 - Real Madrid v Al Hilal CWC
 

Man City fined £1m for repeatedly delaying kick-off​

Manchester City players huddle before their Premier League fixture against Manchester United in December
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Manchester City finished third in last season's Premier League
    • Published
      40 minutes ago
Manchester City have been fined over £1m by the Premier League after repeatedly kicking-off or restarting matches late last season.
Nine of City's matches last season started or restarted late, with the longest delay coming before the second half of the Manchester derby in December 2024 which resumed two minutes and 24 seconds later than billed.
The Premier League said City had accepted and apologised for the breaches, external, with the fines totalling £1.08m. They have 14 days to pay.
Last season the club were fined £2.09m for delaying 22 matches, and manager Pep Guardiola said he would try and make his team talks shorter.
A Premier League statement said: "Rules relating to kick-offs and restarts help ensure the organisation of the competition is set at the highest possible professional standard and provides certainty to fans and participating clubs.
"It also ensures the broadcast of every Premier League match is kept to schedule."
City are awaiting a verdict on 115 charges of alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules.
City were charged and referred to an independent commission in February 2023 following a four-year investigation.
It is alleged City breached its financial rules between 2009 and 2018.
City strongly deny all charges and have said their case is supported by a "comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence".

Man City acknowledge issues - analysis​

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport football news reporter

Manchester City have worked hard to improve their record in this area and say they will continue to do so.
Last season was a difficult one for the team in which they failed to win a major trophy across all competitions and Guardiola would have needed extra moments during preparations to conclude his remarks and relay messages - for this reason, the team have not been sent out on time as required by the Premier League.
But the club did cause fewer delays in the 2024-25 campaign compared to 2023-24 - a 59% reduction - and will be aware of their responsibilities if they are to avoid further sanctions in the future.

'Premier League stance is clear'​

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

The Premier League's stance is fairly clear. Broadcasters spend billions of pounds for the rights to screen matches and part of the deal is knowing, within reason, when they are likely to end.
Not every eventuality can be factored in as players get injured. But the kick-off time and half-time break are controllable.
City argue it was a difficult season, which is true. But the first breach came during a victory over Southampton in October, when they were still unbeaten, were leading at half-time and made no changes during the interval. Yet they were still two minutes and 10 seconds late back onto the pitch.
The sympathetic assessment is Guardiola and his staff are so wrapped up in the messages they deliver that they forget they are over-running.
The less kind view is that they pay no attention.
 
Oh dear..

Spurs fined by FA for fans' homophobic chanting​


The chanting took place in the second half of last September's win at Manchester United

Tottenham Hotspur have been fined £75,000 by the Football Association following homophobic chanting by their fans during a 3-0 win at Manchester United last September.
The chanting was said to have taken place in the 49th and 79th minutes of the Premier League fixture at Old Trafford.
Immediately after the game, Spurs condemned "abhorrent homophobic chanting" as "simply unacceptable" and vowed to take the "strongest possible action".
The FA has confirmed the fine for "two breaches of FA Rule E21 in relation to crowd control misconduct".
That rule governs the behaviour of supporters at matches.
 
Who are Spurs facing after Champions League games next season?
Matchday 1: September 16-18
Brighton (a)
Matchday 2: September 30 – October 1
Leeds (a)
Matchday 3: October 21-22
Everton (a)
Matchday 4: November 4-5
Manchester United (h)
Matchday 5: November 25-26
Fulham (h)
Matchday 6: December 9-10
Nottingham Forest (a)
Matchday 7: January 20-21
Burnley (a)
Matchday 8: January 28
Manchester City (h)

https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sha...t-Champions League schedule like next season?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.